Ok so lets make a healthy, easy to cook food whilst in the woods. We call this ‘Bushcraft mini Bannock made with BEAR yoyo’s’ (the name needs a little work – ideas on a postcard).

What you will need

Apple juice
BEAR yoyo’s
A knife to cut with
Some flour
Some milk powder
a bowl to mix in
a pan to syrup in
a pan to bake on
honey to squirt with

OPTIONAL A man called Ed to cook and build fires

BEAR yoyos are 100% dried fruit rolls. They have loads of fruit per weight so they are great for taking on bushcraft adventures to add flavour and fruit to recipes. Fresh fruit is heavy and we need to be light and on the move in the woods. One little pack of BEAR yoyos provides the same as 160g of fresh fruit (!). It also means you can bake your recipes and keep up with your 5 a day portions. Basically we like BEAR.

Step one
Build a fire (or turn on the oven if you are boring – 180 degrees will do)

Step two
Chop up some delicious yoyos fresh from the BEAR cave. Add the chopped up yoyos to around a 3/4 a litre of Apple juice in a small pan. Put this on the fire (or stove) and reduce to a syrup. Don’t spill it clumsy.

Step 3
Ratio is king – you need twice as much flour as you do milk power.
Lets go for 8 small cups of flour and (yes you guessed it) 4 cups of milk powder.

Put the ingredients in the same bowl and add the yoyo and apple syrup. Uncle Ed remarks how its best to make a well in the mixture so the syrup doesn’t go everywhere.

Step four
Poke it around with a spoon until its mixed up then get your hands in there.
Add some more chopped up yoyos so the bread will have pieces of fruit as well as the fruity flavour from the syrup. Careful its not too hot.

Make into a dough and pat into a big blob. Ed looks happy with himself – well done Ed.

Step four
Poke it around with a spoon until its mixed up then get your hands in there. Add some more chopped up yoyos so the bread will have pieces of fruit as well as the fruity flavour from the syrup. Careful its not too hot. Make into a dough and pat into a big blob. Ed looks happy with himself – well done Ed.

Step Five
Rip off pawfulls to make into balls. Pat these down so they are roughly the size of a burger and place on a non stick tray in the (now hot) oven. We used a muurikka pan and a massive fire made from wood we found.

Step Six
Bake for about 20-30 mins turning half way through. Take out and cover in a bit of bee juice (also know as honey). Remember not to gobble too quickly as they may be hot!

Give this recipe a go and let us know how you get on!

We got this grrreat recipe from our friends at the Bushcraft company who love baking with our yoyos. Join BEAR & the Bushcraft team this summer at festivals for a taster or send the cubs to learn the bear essentials of bushcraft on one of their courses in Hyde Park www.thebushcraftcompany.com

Strawberry Heart Scones
When we’re not baking fruit, we roll up our furry sleeves and bake up a tasty treat. Say it with scones this Mother’s Day (Grrr Sugrrrfree of course)

Ingredients:

- 250g (9oz) self raising flour
- 4 tbsp honey
- 60g (2oz) butter
- 4 yo yos chopped
- Pinch of salt
- 150ml milk

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 deg C/350 deg F/gas mark four. Place your flour, honey and salt in a bowl then rub in your butter. Stir in your milk and add your yo yos. Make into a ball of dough. Grease a baking sheet. Lightly flour a surface then roll out your dough to about three-quarters of an inch thick. With a heart scone cutter of the desired size cut out heart shapes. Place on the sheet and brush with a little milk. Bake for up to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Brrr,

While winter dug its icy claws into Grrreat Britain it stayed summer in your tummy with BEAR’s fruit foraging motto ‘bake hay where the sun shines’.…
Lucky we’re not called ‘HORSE’ or you’d be chomping down on fat free hay instead of the best of the season’s spoils.

Don’t cave in!

It made us growl when a little birdie said 88% of humans were going to ‘cave in’ on new years resolutions by the end of January. So BEAR took nibbles and hugs to 4000 disgrrruntled office workers and radio presenters to help them shed hibernation pounds happily. A growl-out was heard coming from celebrity human Chris Moyles, the most famous breakfast show presenter in the whole wide woods. Photos on facebook.

My furry valentine – 20% off

In ancient Roman times goats were sacrificed, men stripped nude, dressed up in goatskins and whipped the women. In the middle ages single folk picked their valentines name out of a hat and pinned it to their sleeve for up to a year -hence the saying ‘wearing your heart on your sleeve’.
At BEAR we’re saying it with nibbles with 20% off all BEAR shop orders for 1 week (ends Feb 16th).
Grrr be our cocoa cherry pie?

Winning Wednesday Competition

Half way to the weekend and with nibbles to be won there’s no more ‘woe’ in Wednesdays. Its ‘Winning Wednesdays’ with BEAR’s new weekly compeition. For your chance to win guess  ’Where’s BEAR?’ in the photo.
Enter this one here or on facebook and twitter every Wednesday. Paws crossed

Here at BEAR we’re growling behind team Grrreat Britain all the way to the 2012 olympics. So to make sure we hurdle faster than a herd of fully-grown reindeers we sent Richard Yates (Team GB 400m hurdleer) some BEAR nibbles. If you want some training tips from the professionals take notes:

Richard: I am in heavy winter training still consisting of long aerobic sessions plus heavy weights work in the gym and some lactic hurdles sessions. I have a couple of races indoors next month in France over 400 hurdles which I am using as hurdles practice and also to earn some prize money. In terms of nutrition for a race I will make sure I am not too heavy by limiting the amount of protein I eat the day before. I will generally consume a wholegrain pasta meal the night before the race sometimes with a small amount of chicken. I will have a light carbohydrate breakfast of wheat cereals and maybe a snack such as a packet of BEAR fruit nibbles or wholegrain granola after this depending on what time the race is. If the race is in the evening I will have a light pasta or rice meal at lunchtime. I also ensure I am hydrated by drinking sufficient water and balancing this with electrolytes. Post race I make sure I replace all the calories I have used by eating asap and often allow myself an unhealthy day so I don’t crave the bad stuff throughout my next training week!

You might recall a few weeks back we told you about a man named Giles (not our Giles), who to pledge his love for all things BEAR headed off to Alaska to walk with grizzlies. Romeo & Juliet eat your heart out.

Giles is a photographer so said he’d get us a photo with a real BEAR whilst wearing one of our own BEAR t-shirts. Despite being thrilled about this we sent Giles off with some sombre warnings to keep his head about him at all times and if in doubt do the hedgehog.

We’re happy to say Giles returned with all four limbs intact and bearing some amazing photos of our long lost relatives.

If you feel inspired to pledge your love for BEAR we’re also quite content with a BEAR hug. No need to lose a leg for your favourite bag of nibbles.

Want to see more incredible BEAR photos from Giles trip visit his Flickr Page